Sony Xperia Z1 brings power and pixels to the flagship fight

Sony has pulled the covers off the Sony Xperia Z1, its updated and refreshed flagship Android handset, at IFA 2013 in Berlin.

The Sony Xperia Z1 builds on the popular Xperia Z launched at CES 2013 in January, following the company's recent trend of twice-yearly updates. But the Z1 doesn't just tweak the existing Z, it revolutionises it.

Sticking to the same key design, Sony has improved the offering. It's still a glass sandwich, super skinny in the hand, but it's more refined: the edges have been improved to make it more seamless and nicer to hold and the headphone socket has now been waterproofed, meaning no more messy flaps.

It's inside, however, where spec sheet aficionadi will get excited, as like the Xperia Z Ultra, the Z1 comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core chipset, clocked at 2.2GHz, along with 2GB of RAM.

There's 16GB of internal storage, with the option to expand this via microSD; there's 4G LTE support and a 3000mAh battery that should see you through the day when paired with Sony's excellent "stamina" mode.

Bringing the fight to the camera phone arena, the Sony Xperia Z1 comes with a 20.7-megapixel sensor. It's a 1/2.3-type CMOS sensor too, paired with a Sony G lens and a Bionz imaging processor. Like all smartphone manufacturers, Sony is promising great things: less noise, fast focusing, lots of detail.

All that remains to be seen, but the Sony Xperia Z1 will offer you a range of clever shooting features, including live broadcasting to Facebook.

The display has been boosted and improved, featuring Sony's Triluminous technology which purports to offer a wider, more realistic, colour gamut, and still measures 5-inches. It offers 1920 x 1080 pixels, meaning it's crisp, sharp and wonderful to behold.

The Sony Xperia Z1 lands on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, with Sony's usual array of tweaks and changes. It will be available in black, white and purple, available globally from September 2013.

We've already had the chance to spend some time with the new handset, so be sure to check out our first impressions.